Aziz - president of GRODS

GRODS? What the heck is GRODS? Well, there is a little plagiarism here. Calvin (of the "calvin and hobbes" fame) founds a new organization - GROSS (Get Rid Of Sissy girlS) and becomes its president. Well, if Calvin can be a president of a society, why not Aziz? Thus, the one-man organization called "Get Rid Of Daylight Savings" (GRODS) came into being.

When my friends back home in India ask me what the time difference between my time(eastern) and IST (Indian standard time) is, it is most embarrassing to say - It depends on the date.

For those who are still unable to follow me, daylight savings is a funny concept followed in most parts of the US and some other countries. One fine day in October, all clocks are turned backward by 1 hour and another fine day in April they are turned forward. The first time I had to experience this was in October. But it began pleasantly. My alarm woke up at my usual time of 7:00 am and then I realized that I had actually woken up at 6:00 am. I jumped back into the bed and relished that 1 extra hour of sleep. I felt hungry for lunch at my usual time but realized that I had to remain hungry for 1 extra hour.

In April, it was most annoying. I had to get up 1 hour before my usual time. I just couldn't do that. What a strange concept this is - nothing different from creating an artificial jet-lag. Everybody had to suddenly change their routine for no good reason.

The concept of daylight savings was actually a joke. In the 18th century, Benjamin Franklin first mentioned concept of adjusting clocks to suit the seasons in a humorous essay - Turkey vs. Eagle, McCauley is my Beagle. He started writhing in his grave when Britain actually introduced it during World War I. Apparently, it saved fuel(??). It became popular in the US during World War II. Even after the war, some of its supporters started proposing reasons to continue to have this artificial jetlag.